'People think that freezing eggs is a safety net, and it's not'

Kourtney Kardashian has opened up about the fertility misconception women have about the process, saying that it 'isn't guaranteed' to work.

Eleanor Katelaris

3 min read

May 29, 2023 - 9:14AM

'I believe what God has in store'. Image: Hulu/Instagram

Lifestyle

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Kourtney Kardashian cleared up a common misconception about egg freezing during the season three premiere of The Kardashians.

The eldest of the Kardashian sisters, 44, candidly discussed her fertility struggles, explaining that she had previously frozen her eggs before trying to expand her family with her husband Travis Barker.

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'I believe what God has in store'. Image: Hulu/Instagram

'People do it thinking it's a safety net and it's not."

Kardashian explained that she had several eggs left that she had frozen in her late 30s, but most of them didn't survive the thaw and none of them were successfully fertilised using IVF.

She explained, "When I was 38 or 39, everyone was like pushing me to do that. Most of mine didn’t survive the thaw because eggs are one cell, and none of them made it into an embryo."

"The freezing of eggs isn’t guaranteed. It’s a misunderstanding, people do it thinking it's a safety net, and it's not," she continued.

Kourtney then went on to share the emotional and physical toll that her long and painful IVF journey took on her.

'The freezing of eggs isn't guaranteed'. Image: Instagram

'We are just embracing that whatever’s meant to be will be'.

"My health is still impacted because it's hormones, and mentally it definitely took a toll," she said.

In an Instagram story in December last year, she announced that she was stopping IVF after 10 months.

She then confirmed in the recent premiere that she and Barker are "officially done" with the treatments and will instead try and conceive naturally.

"I think being happy is what's important and being a good parent to my kids. We're just embracing that whatever is meant to be will be," she said.

She then shared that she's open to any outcome - "if that's a baby, then I believe that it will happen", but also said that she already has a "full, blessed life and I'm happy."

Kourtney has two sons, Reign Aston, eight, and Mason Dash, 13, as well as a daughter, Penelope Scotland, 10 who she shares with her ex Scott Disick.

Travis is the father of a daughter Alabama Luella, 17, and a son, Landon Asher, 19. He is also the stepfather to Atiana De La Hoya, who is the daughter of his ex-wife Shanna Moakler from her previous relationship.

It's better to freeze your eggs closer to 20 than 40, experts say

Kidspot spoke to Monash IVF Sydney CBD Clinical Director, Dr Katrina Rowan to find out more about the egg freezing process.

“While it’s disappointing for Kourtney Kardashian that she hasn’t been able to use her frozen eggs to fall pregnant, it’s important for other women to understand why that might be and the steps they could take to improve their own chances of conceiving using frozen eggs," Dr. Rowan said.

“Freezing eggs when you’re in your late 20s or early 30s rather than waiting until you’re older will generally give you a better chance of having a baby in the future using those frozen eggs because the younger you are the more likely it is that we are able to retrieve more eggs and better-quality eggs from you.

“Having a good number and good quality frozen eggs is important because some of the eggs we collect won’t be mature enough to freeze and some of them won’t survive the thawing process. After thawing the eggs, they need to fertilise and continue to grow, and it is hard to tell at the freezing stage which eggs have the capacity to continue to grow and make it into a healthy baby. The good news is 85-90 per cent of the eggs we collect will survive the collection and thawing process and be available for us to attempt fertilisation in the future.”